AP: McCain Envisions How First Term Will Go
John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees "spasmodic" but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen.

USA Today: McCain Aide Trains His Sights on Obama
Mark Salter is working on the climactic chapter of his career: getting his boss, Sen. John McCain, elected president. Now that Obama has emerged as the likely Democratic nominee, Salter is poised to play a large role in a campaign filled with potential land mines, from race issues to McCain's age.

The Hill: Clinton’s 11th-hour push
Sen. Hillary Clinton rallied her Capitol Hill supporters on Wednesday night, telling them to bring an uncommitted friend and seeking to capitalize on her 41-percentage points victory in the West Virginia primary.

GOP Can't Rely On Money Advantage Now
For years, Republicans could survive mistakes in congressional races and still gain new advantages because they always had more money than the Democrats. Those days are over now, and not in some incremental way.

WSJ: Democratic Hold on Jewish Vote Could Slip
Is the Jewish vote up for grabs this year? Many Republicans think so - particularly with Barack Obama likely heading the Democratic ticket. That calculation has fueled an intense back-and-forth in recent days between the two parties over Sen. Obama's views on Israel.

USA Today: Republicans Fear Public Has Lost Confidence
Republicans must regain the confidence of Americans and recast their message to voters to avoid a catastrophe in the fall congressional elections, top GOP officials said Wednesday in a stark postmortem of a loss in rural Mississippi.

WSJ: Obama's Strategy for Low-Turnout Caucuses Helps Drive Delegate Edge
For evidence of the strategy that has made Barack Obama the likely Democratic presidential nominee, look at Nebraska, where the candidate narrowly won a little-noticed primary Tuesday. Sen. Obama's 49% to 46% victory barely got any attention from the campaigns or the press, because the state's delegates, who vote on the nomination, were chosen in a February caucus.

AP: Obama and Oregon: More In Common Than 'O'
Oregon is fertile ground for Barack Obama, the self-described "change" candidate. The state that has led the way in everything from bike trails to assisted suicide is also the first to vote entirely by mail.